Customer Reviews

Death in the Long Grass

5 star:		(94)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is nearly 300 pages long, but I finished it in an evening of reading, and when I did, I wished there had been another 300 pages to go. "Death in the Long Grass" is about the author's (Peter Hathaway Capstick) experience as a white hunter in Africa, and his close encounters with the various creatures there that either wanted to eat, trample, gore, or bite him and his associates.

This is not an informational guide about either hunting or Africa. The book's sole intent is to capture your attention with fascinating, hair-raising stories of Capstick's own close calls with the wildlife of Africa as well as his recounting of some other tales where the wildlife got the best of man.

The stories are utterly captivating. They would be interesting to read no matter who was telling them. But Capstick knows how to write by weaving his own interesting experiences in with other tales he has either heard or read about. He also has a wicked, morbid sense of humor that fits well with the subject matter of the book.

There are adventure stories written by writers who were occasional adventurers (Conrad, Ruark, Hemingway), and there are adventure stories written by those who were only writers (Orwell, a million others,) and then there are a tiny number of adventure stories written by professional adventurers who also *luckily* happen to be brilliant writers. Peter Hathaway Capstick is the chief of this tribe, which includes John Taylor and a couple of others. This is a general review of all his writing, and so I won't get too specific, but it isn't a stretch at all to say that this is the finest, most exciting, most frightening, most eloquent writing ever done on the hunting experience, on hunting in Africa, and perhaps on what happens at that moment when man "goes back on the menu" after being off of it for a measley thousand years or so.

Capstick was a stock broker turned hunting organizer turned (through a curcuitous route) to being a PH or professional hunter in Africa, and then had the skill and the will to set it all down. I have never had more riveting reading experiences than when he tells of having to shoot a big bull elephant (driven mad drunk after eating morula fruit) in bush so thick that he was actually 5 feet from the elephant before he saw it. Or of his friend Corporal Katwindi, the African tribesman who was killed trying to save his life. Or of stalking a black mamba that had killed a boy. This particular story includes the three most chilling words I've read in a long time: as he comes around a bend in the river bank, he sees the dead child (bitten on the lower lip) horribly swollen and disfigured, his face contorted in agony from the mamba bite. "Oh my, yes." Capstick says, and nothing else need be said. He was there, at that point where the line between life and death gets so horribly thin and transparent, and he's able to come back from it and tell it to you so that you feel the same goose flesh he felt, the same clutching fear, the same doubt about your courage, the same desire to run screaming back to your office job.

You'll laugh, too. "There may be something more exciting than lion hunting, but I don't have her phone number any more." Or the story of the African camp steward who had slavishly dedicated himself to learning English to impress the clients, (by overhearing phrases and memorizing their meanings) and while wearing a crisp starched uniform, snaps to a British salute in front of the distinguished safari couple and tells the lady "Tea is ready, darling." His ability to find, and bring back, wonderful humor from gruelling experiences, like when his skin basically rotted off his feet during the rainy season, will not soon be forgotten.

One of the most memorable aspects of his writing is his deep respect and affection for the African natives that he admired so much, and the few that he was proud to call his friends. He is quick to point out that any perceived inadequacies on their part are strictly cultural, not racial, and he was in awe of their abilities in their world. One old man could not, for the life of him, to save his soul, be taught how to flick a disposable cigarette lighter so that it would light. The little thumb roll that we do without thinking completely evaded him. His hands just wouldn't do it, couldn't do it. So he stuck it in his ear hole. This same man could smell elephants miles away and could track game over bare rock, could look at a broken leaf and tell what animal did it and when, leaving Capstick in awe. As impossible as the lighter was to him, this incredible oneness with the natural world was ultimately impossible for Capstick, and for us all.

That's enough for now. If you are reading this review, you probably already have one or more of PHC's books. But if, on the off chance, you don't, then do yourself a favor and get as many as you can, and I dare you to try to put them down. They are that good. Better literature than Hemingway? Probably not. Probably not as profound as Ruark. But he has them all trumped when your knuckles are white with fear, and beads of sweat pop out on your brow, and you try to remember...did I chamber one, or not? And there's a soft crunch in the leaves ahead, and then we're back to what is most elemental: predator and prey, and which of us is which is entirely up for grabs.

Thanks, Peter. Gone but not forgotten.

Capstick invokes the feeling of sitting around the campfire listening to stories. He tells a story the way way Monet painted, full of color and brilliance. His stories make you feel the sun beating down on you,and hear the tiny rustle of the long grass that means a charge. When you read his book(s) your not going to feel like you reading, you'll feel like your there. No one has ever written better on hunting in Africa, not Ruark or Hemingway, I know I have a 250 volume collection of African hunting books dating from 1890 to 1999. Trust me buy this book for anyone who hunts or has thought of hunting, you will not regret it. How good is this book? I've had 5 copies of it, the 1st 2 paperbacks were read till they fell apart.

This book is wonderful. Peter Hathaway Capstick had a real knack for putting the reader right there in the tall grass, feeling the heat and the fear of an African hunt. His description of a charging lion put the fear of God in me, that's for sure. Also, his writing style is full of self-depreciating humor and honesty. He had a real way with words and his books are all classics in the field. If you have ever wanted to go on a safari, read this book. It is refreshing to read his descriptions of hunting with no apologies. Consider the way he expresses his love of dangerous game hunting: "That is man against himself, the last and purest of the challenges that made us men, not animals." Either that rings true or it doesn't.

Peter Hathaway Capstick ranks among the finest story tellers in the world today. His tales of hunting dangerous African game in "Death in the Long Grass" is riveting. His anecdotes portray in vivid detail the danger, fear, and humor in hunting big game in the African bush. Read this book and you will never look at a leopard the same again, or any other big game species in Africa for that matter. Capstick's respect for the animals he hunted and for the African people is quite apparent. "Bravo old boy!"

Peter Capstick was capable of capturing the spirit and danger of the hunt like no other author in recent history.

I read "Death in the Long Grass" in the late 1970's when it first came out. I was hooked on Capstick immediately and have read many of his subsequent works, but I still think that this one is the best.

In my opinion Capstick was the first writer since Hemingway to really capture the "feel" of the African bush and the danger of the hunt.

Capstick was the first writer in many years to truly capture the wilderness and to help the uninitiated understand the heart and courage of the hunter. Sadly he is no longer with us and his gritty descriptions of the African wilderness and wildlife will be missed by all who have been unable to go to Africa, but have felt that they were a part of it through his writings.

He writes of an era that is quickly passing, which future generations may experience only through writings such as his.

I would recommend this work highly to anyone who is interested in the dark continent, dangerous game, or hunting in general. In my opinion it is the best of Capstick.

There was an Africa before this one. Before the continent was torn apart by war, AIDS and poaching. Before elephants and other exotic species were slaughtered to the point of endangerment. Before Africa was one big, hopeless charity case in the sense of both it's wildlife and it's people there was Peter Capstick's Africa. While reading this book let go of what you think you know about endangered species on that continent and let go of your judgement about hunting there. Because otherwise you're really missing out.

Before that old Africa finally gave up the ghost, there were people having the most incredible lives and experiences hunting there. People like Peter Hathaway Capstick. That's what this book is really about. True, high adventure in a world that has largely disappeared. Embrace the reality of the time in which lions really did have to be killed regularly because they were honestly eating innocent people. There was a time in which far too many elephants had been concentrated into small regions and they were wiping out people's crops and causing starvation. There was an experience of hunting such creatures down at great personal risk and destroying them. Once you accept that this was the reality of that time, I promise that you will find this riveting.

Capstick is an excellent writer who will never once bore you. There will not be one single page in this entire book that you will want to flip past. If you have the remotest interest in hunting or in true, high adventure then I implore you to pick up this book and read it.

I was lucky enough to be given a copy of this book way back in 1983 when I was but 11 years old. The circumstances in which I was given this book was by a family friend on the first night after arriving at our camp on the border of Botswana and Zimbabwe - I was in the African bush on a big game hunt for the first time in my life! On that trip the men of our group had permits for big game of every kind - including Cape Buff which we took two of in a spectacular afternoon. We also took Zebra and many other animals legally permitted during this time and I myself took down a Steinbuck from some distance off the back of a Land Rover with a .270 cal rifle - which we promptly ate that very evening!

Reading this book again just recently reminds me of what it is like to hunt in the African scrub, it was not written so long before I was hunting there and my friend John who gave this young neophyte hunter his first taste of hunting as well as a blood curdling read each night before I slept, will never be forgot. This is a thrilling read, particularly the chapter on Lion; and while we all came out unscathed the dangers on a big hunt are very real - we were never without loaded weapons when on foot. I was lucky to escape serious peril after a Hyaena entered my open hut whilst I slept one evening and wandered out again without interest.

Reading the visceral tales of Capstick brings back memories of that giant African blood red sun each dawn - it's a country that gets in your blood and has spilled it's fair share also. His superb writing and descriptions are no exagerration!

Read the first paragraph of this book and you will know that you are reading some of the finest and most thrilling writing on the subject of big game hunting in Africa by someone truly gifted. I must have read this book at least half a dozen times and cannot help but be affected by the masterful descriptions and story telling prowess of Peter H. Capstick. Having read all of Capstick's wonderful books, if I were to pick one as the very best, this would likely be it.

As close to going on Safari as a book can bring you. Everything is here ... the stalking, the terror, the kills, the planning, the camaraderie, and the campfires in the evening. You'll also get a pretty good education on the different species and their unique styles of hunting you! The chapter hunting on lions, and the one on leopards will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. This is high-adventure hunting at it's best.

Read this and you'll be hooked on Peter Capstick and Africa.